16. The search for blood and plasma substitutes during World War II
As it became evident that American involvement in the Second World War was inevitable, the American Red Cross and the National Research Council conducted a concentrated effort to increase stocks of plasma. Once US combat involvement began it became apparent that in many cases, including shock resulting from wounds, plasma transfusions were inadequate. Whole blood transfusions were required. The drive for a substitute for human blood, provided by donation, gathered steam. The research focused on a substitute for the proteins in human blood, chiefly albumin, provided from the blood of animals. In 1940 research programs focused on bovine blood as a potential source.
Clinical testing on bovine albumin for use in humans started in late 1940, and by 1941 several hopeful reports in testing it on other animals led to the recommendations of a controlled study for its use in humans. Studies on the use of bovine albumin in humans began in early 1942, in Minnesota, Massachusetts, and other locations. Casualties from the war fronts increased throughout 1942, particularly among the US Navy and Marines in the Pacific, and the demand for an effective and safe blood substitute rose daily. Once again, the call went out for volunteer inmates in American prisons to offer themselves as test cases. Inmates responded across the country. One was Arthur St. Germaine, in Massachusetts.